Everyone always thought she'd done it for the games. They thought she'd done it for the glory, for fame, or even because that was what had been expected of her. They were wrong.

She hadn't done it simply to become a victor, simply to fight, or even simply for the publicity that would inevitably be experienced while residing in the capital. The parties, the adrenaline, the costumes, the people, the crowds, the fans, even the fight were all dim in retrospect to her goal, outshining Diamond.

Diamond, oh Diamond, the darling little precious Diamond. So impossible to outshine, so improbable to ever step out of the spotlight, so lucky she finally did.

Everything Clove did Diamond had already done, and better.

She mastered the move in three days, it only took Diamond two. Clove was the toughest girl in her class well Diamond was toughest in the year. She always won first, was remembered first, was praised first, was picked first. Who would have ever thought that her inability to be anything but first would be her downfall?

Because she had been first the one thing she wanted the most had slipped her fingers when Aimee Heart had reached her perfectly manicured hand into the crystal glass bowl and withdrew a slip of paper clutched in her oh-so-pretty nails (claws). But it had been destroyed, fallen an endless abbess, lost forever when the paper had been opened and the high capital accent had read out 'Diamond Meadows' because that meant that she would never get a chance in the games.

In district two there was ALWAYS a volunteer, this time was no different.

It had been common knowledge around district two that this reaping was the last reaping that many children would be eligible to compete in the games; one of those children had been Diamond Meadows. It had also been known that she was going to volunteer, but now she had been chosen, you can't volunteer for yourself.

Clove had watched her sister go white, watched her as her delicate, yet calloused hands had clasped around the metal railing that was positioned directly in front of her, knuckles white from the force of her grip.

Clove had smiled. It had been a little smile, one that one wears when they see their opponent had made a fatal move in chess, one that she hadn't been able to stop appearing on her face and that she made no move to attempt to cover. She allowed herself to experience the briefest sensation of schadenfreude and didn't stop smiling as she stepped forward, raised her arm up leisurely like flagging down a waitress and said in a coy, smug voice "I volunteer."

The burning glare from her sister which had rested on her back thrust her into a heat which caused her perspire, though she never lost cool or cracked her conduct. After all, she recognized the heat and blinding lights, they were a spotlight. Finally. Trained. On. Her.

So she smiled and trained and learned to hate the girl with the braid because it was her time to shine, her time to shine and show the world that first isn't always the best. And when she sat on the coach for those three minutes, while she played coy, sneaky, and a little bit sly she could feel Diamond's envious eyes even though she wasn't around for miles and miles.

Clove had fame, the capita knew her name, and even though she didn't become victor she won her own little game.

And she fell from the stage and the spotlight blew out but she succeeded at her quest because she had proven that first was the worst and second was the best.


A.N/ Yeah ... don't judge too harshly. Please review! (I love feedback)